Emergence in Southern France of a new SARS-CoV-2 variant of probably Cameroonian origin harbouring both substitutions N501Y and E484K in the spike protein
….welcome to 2022..
Category: COVID-19
-
T-REX OF COVID: MEMORIES
T CELLS COME TO THE RESCUE AS STUDIES SHOW THEY STOP OMICRON?? →
This story is amazing, more on the science level..
An unsung arm of the immune system appears to protect against severe disease with the omicron variant even when antibodies wane, helping to explain why a record wave of infections
South Arica is NOT really vaccinated. but where they were vaccinated, it was 100% Johnson and Johnson. And their hospitalizations were low low low.
ALSO good news from the J&J fan.. remember how the vaccine did NOT increase antibodies? But DID increase T cells?
They are coming to the rescue..
The article focuses on T cell memory generated by vaccines. But what about infections?
This little tidbit at the end o the article gives us some hope that not only vaccines will protect against Omicron but also previous infections: People infected with another coronavirus that was responsible for the SARS outbreak in 2003, for example, were found to still have a T-cell response to the disease 17 years later..
-
Virus shaming in China
Public shaming of Covid rule breakers in China..
Police in Jingxi city paraded alleged violators of Covid rules through the streets
The four suspects had to carry placards displaying their photos and names
China banned such public shaming and parading of criminal suspects in 2010
But the practice has resurfaced amid extremely strict lockdown controls
It comes as 13 million in China were barred from going outside, even for food
-
Drudge goes creepy for Christmas
The Drudge Report headline running today involves a pun about the Omicron variant, coupled with a link to a story where health officials warn of millions of cases per day in the United States within weeks.
The site is using an image of a grayed out skull for the headline, clearly and pick up the fear factor over this variant..
We are the Horror Report here, so on that note I suppose it’s only fair to apply to Drudge Report on this one?
-
Millions of daily COVID cases possible in the United States
Francis Collins, retiring from the NIH, warns of his COVID fears in the coming weeks..
“We cannot afford to let down our guard,” Collins told NPR’s Scott Detrow in an interview with Weekend Edition.
“I know people are tired of this,” he said, acknowledging Americans’ fatigue of having weathered almost three pandemic-stunted years. “I’m tired of it too, believe me. But the virus is not tired of us. It’s having a great old time changing its shape every couple of months, coming up with new variants and figuring out ways to be even more contagious.”
While his number may sound dramatic, there are others in medical circles who actually believe the REAL daily infection number will be between 3 and 8 million by some point in the next several weeks.
South Africa hopes it is peaking now.. Europe is two weeks behind.. and the United States will be mid-January for the peak.
There are now talks in various governmental circles as to how to respond: Flatten the curve 2.0 and extend the lifetime of omicron longer? Or … let it be?
Humanity faces an uncertain dark winter..
-
Not ready for prime time mess: SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE COVID OUTBREAK RATTLES CAST MEMBERS
Rumors abound that “four actors” from SNL have tested positive for coronavirus — and “three others” called out because they were now “fearful” about coming to NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Center..
The show therefore continued but with no audience.. the musical guest canceled ..
Although some set sources claimed executive producer Lorne Michaels, 77, had tested positive, others have denounced that as “NOT” true — and confirmed that he’s actually on set overseeing the show last night..
Sources to the New York Post murmured that the “show must go on but don’t expect to see Colin Jost, Sarah Sherman or (Aristotle) Athari.” Jost, 39, usually hosts “Weekend Update” with Michael Che, 38, while Sherman, 28, and Athari, 30, are both newcomers to the ensemble this season.
There is no word as to how the virus spread so quickly among the cast of the show. But the positivity rate and numbers are shooting go dramatically in New York City right now..
He next focal point will be on Mayor DeBlasio.. he may not be the grinch who will steal Christmas but will he call off the New Years rocking super spreader event?
-
Nightmare before Christmas: Biden to address nation on omicron
President Joe Biden will deliver a speech on Tuesday to address the omicron variant and unveil new steps the administration is taking to help communities in need of assistance, a White House official told NBC News on Saturday.
Biden is expected to go beyond his already unveiled “Winter Plan” with additional measures while “issuing a stark warning of what the winter will look like for Americans that choose to remain unvaccinated,” the official said.
-
‘Major incident’ declared in London amid huge concern at rise in Omicron cases
There have been 65,525 new cases confirmed in London in the last seven days, with 26,418 cases reported the last 24 hours – the highest figure since the start of the pandemic.
And in the last week, the number of Covid patients in the capital’s hospitals has risen by 29 per cent.
Mr Khan warned the city could run out of police officers, firefighters and NHS workers due to the rapidly rising cases forcing thousands of front-line workers into isolation.
He told Sky News: “We’re incredibly concerned by the huge surge of the Omicron variant in the last 24 hours.
— Read on www.thesun.co.uk/news/17079303/major-incident-declared-london-hospitals-covid-breaking-point/This worry not only comes from the virus but also mandatory quarantines and time off of work. Society itself could grind to a halt. What’s happening in Europe will be the United States in two weeks
-
As so goes the nation across the pond so goes the United States
During these troubling Covid moments we so often turn to a good chap from over across the pond, Dr. John Campbell. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Campbell has been authoritative voice on social media to explain with common sense terminologies coupled with medical acronyms what the nations of the world are facing.
In fairness it should be noted that Dr. Campbell has been doing videos on his YouTube channel for many years prior, but the burst of popularity came at the same time the cases across China begin to make news in early 2020.
As the world now faces the Omicron Variant, Campbell‘s newest video sheds light on what Britain is doing to prepare for potential calamity, although he hopes it will NOT be that awful, and how the rest of the world face is the same potential dire problem within weeks.
Campbell has repeatedly said that he believes he will be exposed to the virus as well most of the people on the planet. And that will not be within months, is going to be relatively within a short period of time if not days to a few weeks.
Campbell’s latest video on the Omicron surge in the UK Clearly Great Britain is on a war footing, even openly speaking about what type of patients should be removed from the hospital if medical facilities are faced with a soaring rate of Covid infections during the spike..
Dr. Campbell, like so many others, is upset that officials are not mentioning the benefits of increasing vitamin D, zinc, and just in general getting a more restful sleep.
Those three things, our good lad thinks, could have a net positive result of the global immune system.
What clear is this: there are two outcomes that are sure to occur.
First: a period of global herd immunity. No one knows how long it might last but we certainly know that the amount of people who will be exposed and catch the Omicron Variant is going to far out numbered Delta. Omicron is a Variant on steroids..
And we also know that the healthcare system and basic infrastructure of many nations across the world are going to facing .. Little shortages, staffing crises, and medical care facilities and influx of patients in huge numbers.
Most medical officials seem to be erring on the side that omicron will be overall less deadly and dangerous than Delta. That’s the good news. The bad news is that despite it being so a large number of people will get the virus and all them once, perhaps eight times more infectious than Delta. Mathematical equations with prove that even if less people become hospitalized from Omicron when compared to Delta, it could actually still be the same number if not more than delta give me the amount of people getting the virus.
It is now very clear: we will not have to hypothesize about this too much longer. Great Britain will face the very likely scenario of more than 1 million cases per day by the end of this month, and United States million will have even more daily by the end of January. Batten down the hatches.
-
Covid deaths in 2021 top 2020’s total
The number of reported Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. have surpassed 800,000, as the coronavirus pandemic is set to continue into 2022.
Data from Johns Hopkins University on Tuesday showed the U.S. has exceeded 800,000 Covid-19 fatalities, close to two years after the first deaths from the disease were recorded in the country in February 2020.
There were undoubtedly a number of early deaths not counted as the virus was circulating the world without awareness..
Death certificate data show the total number of U.S. Covid-19 deaths this year exceeded those in 2020, when the pandemic first altered daily life in the country, and before the widespread rollout of vaccines.